Doc, my beloved husband of 42 years died a month ago. He was with me during part of my addiction and all of my 32 years of recovery. His love, support, and belief in me were a key part of my sobriety, my personal growth, and my ability to take positive risks. #grief #spouses #marriage
Good work! And, yes, it took a while for me to feel that my new life was my real life.
I always recommend Beyond Addiction to friends and family. Based on CRAFT techniques, it's the best such book I've ever read.
Even when we no longer struggle with sobriety, we have times of general life struggle, like everyone else. I'm in one of the worst times of my life now, but it has nothing to do with my sobriety and isn't putting that at risk.
Listening to what worked for others is useful. Those suggestions work well when we apply an "is this a good strategy for me" filter when building our individual recovery plan.
In my early #addiction #recovery, my ptsd-induced severe #anxiety prevented me from feeling proud of all my efforts moving me in the positive direction. I kept doing so anyway!
Good overview of the lack of data supporting involuntary #addiction treatment and what the data does support. #opioids #sobriety
theconversation.com/what-decades...
Peer support is useful for many. The one caveat I offer, though, is that we all need to take care not to mandate what others should do. I share what worked for me as strategies and techniques for the #addictionrecovery newbie to consider and adopt those they find helpful.
And yet we now are in a world of Medicaid contraction.
Interesting article about how some of us trade drinking/drug use for overworking and perfectionism. #women #soberlife #sobriety
www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/health/me...
Addressing the "why" often is key to a robust recovery.
Good work!
Reconnecting with our authentic self is one of the joys of recovery.
Patience and persistence! 2 keys to success.
Good overview of the many problems with drug #courts. Until these are resolved, "the evidence strongly suggests that specialty courts simply do not improve public safety, public health, or quality of life." #Crime #addiction
www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/02...
The impact on families, the lack of treatment on demand that would be cheaper than our criminalization system, and the impact of knowing your community is paying a much higher penalty for drug use because of their color or ethnicity.
When I train, I often include this data. That if you only care about how your tax dollars are used, criminalizing substance use is much more expensive than treatment. Which is particularly important as we don't have enough treatment, especially evidence based and of an appropriate length.
Thank you
Love it!
What I needed to learn in my #ptsd and severe #anxiety recovery, wasn't that I bad things never would happen, which is what I wanted after my abusive past. But rather that I could handle them when they did. Sometimes not without pain or struggle. But I could. #recoveryposse
The ideology of "no one gets sober until they hit a horrible bottom" is dangerous and untrue. Many people address their #addiction at the mild or moderate level, before it becomes severe and highly destructive. #recoveryposse #sobriety
I have 32 years of sobriety! 😊 And trauma recovery.
My therapist gave me a card with 20 emotions on it. So I could answer the "what are/were you feeling" questions.
Connecting to my emotions was a major part of my trauma recovery.
I often tell newbies that getting the #addictionrecovery help they decide they need is a self-empowerment action. They did the analysis, made a plan, and implemented it. #recoveryposse #WeDoRecover
Learned a new word related to one of my early #Trauma responses: alexithymia. The inability to identify or describe emotions. Someone asks how you feel and you genuinely don't know. The connection between internal state and conscious awareness is severed. #ptsd #CPTSD
Love the gratitude list!
Who to keep in our lives and at what level of closeness is an important recovery decision.
